Historical Museum

Museum Hours:
Open daily May lst through September 30th
May & September: 1PM to 4PM Daily
June, July, August: 10AM to 4PM Monday – Thursday
1PM to 4PM Friday – Sunday
October 1 through April 30 — by appointment
Christmas Tour the ﬁrst weekend in December

Admission Fees:
Adults $5.00
Seniors (over 60) and handicapped: $4.00
Students K-12: $3.00
Family in same household: $12.00
Children below school age are our guests

In 1975 the City of Colville entered into an agreement for the Historical Society to manage a piece of property and buildings it had received a decade earlier as a gift from the Keller Family. The terms of the gift is that the house and grounds were to be used as a park and museum. That had not been possible for the City prior to 1975 so the partnership turned out to be a good one.

The Historical Society had some artifacts in a small building on Wynne Street and were in serious need of a museum. With a monetary gilt from Bessie McDowell the ﬁrst building was added to the estate since the school house was moved in earlier. The museum plaque lists the building as The McDowell Museum. There was enough money in the giﬁ to build a modest, concrete block structure.

Although the building was small it was sufﬁcient in 1975 to house the artifacts it had. There were also some that could be placed in the Keller House. For the ﬁrst 20 or so years the House had people living in it and had some of the Historical Society’s items as well. It worked well because the residents paid the lights and heat and let people come through their residence in exchange for living in the house.

At about the same time, in early l990’s the Historical Society received a sizable ﬁnancial gift and a gift of furniture and household goods that were originally in the house. This allowed an addition to the museum to be built and enough furnishings so that there did not need to be residents in the house and it became a full time museum.